Gannar Hansen, the original villain in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has died at the age of 68.
In his 2013 book Chain Saw Confidential: How We Made the World’s Most Notorious Horror Movie
The reason I want to talk about this movie is that I played Leatherface, Chain Saw’s brutish, relentless – and apparently lovable – killer. Through an improbable series of events, one sweaty summer afternoon I found myself dancing on a Texas hilltop, spinning a chainsaw over my head, hell-bent on scaring the bejesus out of the director. It had been a long trip getting to that hilltop, and it has been a long trip ever since.
Here’s an interesting interview with Hansen from 2013, after the publication of his book. Hansen is asked about the filming of the dinner scene (they apparently shot for 24 hours straight.)
I remember it as 26 hours. Some remember it more like 36 hours. I have always been skeptical of Method acting, but by the time we were finishing those 26 hours I really became lost in the character. It wasn’t because I was Method acting, it was because we were so immersed in what was going on we really lost track of the outside world. We became those characters.
The outpouring of loss and respect on Twitter and elsewhere for this horror icon has been truly heartwarming.
R.I.P.
